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49 free Akita trivia questions with answers — nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Akita is the big spitz of northern Japan, bred from the Matagi hunters' bear dogs and fattened on samurai dogfighting, declared the country's first canine natural monument in 1931 and very nearly wiped out by wartime culls that left fifteen or sixteen purebreds alive. Its fame rests on one dog, Hachikō, who waited at Shibuya Station for nine and a half years after his professor died, and on Helen Keller, who carried the first two Akitas to America. These 49 questions cover the breed's history and its split into Japanese and American types: the Ōdate dog, the Satake clan, the Tosa crosses, the Dewa and Ichinoseki lines, the FCI's 'Great Japanese Dog', the fox head versus the bear head and the black mask that disqualifies one type but not the other. Then Hachikō in detail: the meaning of Hachi, the Asahi Shimbun article, the statue melted down a day before the surrender, the 2011 necropsy and the Richard Gere film shot in Rhode Island. Easy questions stick to Shibuya and Helen Keller; the expert tier asks about Morie Sawataishi, Kuma-kō and the Edo temple dog Moku. Every answer is cited to a page we checked.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Akita traces its roots to hunting dogs kept by which traditional hunters of northern Japan?
The Matagi
They used the dogs to track and hold bears, boar and serow in deep snow.
Q 02In which region of Japan did the breed originate?
Tōhoku, in the north
Akita Prefecture, which gives the breed its name, lies in that region.
Q 03Which large animal were the breed's ancestors used to hunt in snowy mountains?
Japanese black bear
Wild boar and the Japanese serow were other quarry.
Q 04What was the breed called until it was renamed the Akita Inu in 1931?
Ōdate dog
Samurai and wealthy farmers in the Ōdate area kept it as a guard and fighting dog.
Q 05Which samurai clan ruled the Akita region and reportedly encouraged dogfighting among vassals?
Satake
The Satake West Family kept Ōdate Castle during the Edo period.
Q 06A legendary late-Edo temple dog named Moku stood about how tall at the shoulder?
85 cm
He was said to be big enough to carry an adult on his back.
Q 07What distinction did the Akita earn among Japanese dog breeds in 1931?
First breed designated a natural monument
The Shiba Inu followed in 1936.
Q 08Who founded the Akita Inu Hozonkai preservation society in 1927?
The mayor of Ōdate
Izumi Shigeie organised it to save the original type from crossbreeding.
Q 09Crossbreeding with which fighting breed had muddied the Akita by the early 1900s?
Tosa
Imported foreign dogs were also mixed in during the dog-fighting craze.
Q 10With which breed were Akitas crossed during World War II to escape a cull of non-military dogs?
German Shepherd
Shepherds were the only dogs approved for military use in Japan.
Q 11In which earlier war were Akitas used to track prisoners of war and lost sailors?
Russo-Japanese War
That conflict was fought in 1904–05.
Q 12Roughly how many purebred Akitas survived in Japan at the end of World War II?
15 or 16
Akitas were culled first because they ate a lot and their fur could line coats.
Q 13Which two bloodlines were most influential in rebuilding the breed?
Dewa and Ichinoseki
The Dewa line was nicknamed the 'German Shepherd' type and the Ichinoseki the 'Mastiff' type.
Q 21Which newspaper article in October 1932 made Hachikō famous across Japan?
Asahi Shimbun
It was full of errors and a correction ran a month later titled 'Hachi-kō is a Fine Dog'.
Q 22Which sculptor made Hachikō's original bronze statue, complete with his drooping left ear?
Teru Andō
He and his daughter died in the May 1945 Tokyo air raid.
Q 23What happened to Hachikō's first bronze statue during World War II?
It was melted down for the war effort
It became locomotive parts on August 14, 1945, one day before the surrender.
Q 14Which breeder is credited as a major reason the Akita survived the postwar years?
Morie Sawataishi
Akitas were bred for a standardised appearance for the first time in that era.
Q 15In which decade did the foxier Japanese type begin to diverge from the American type?
1960s–1970s
America and Europe had preserved the bear-headed dogs that fell out of favour in Japan.
Q 16Hachikō's faithfulness became a Japanese national symbol of what?
Loyalty
His story was put in a second-grade textbook in 1935 to teach kindness and gratitude.
Q 17What was the profession of Hachikō's owner, Hidesaburō Ueno?
University professor
He taught agricultural engineering at Tokyo Imperial University.
Q 18At which Tokyo station did Hachikō wait for his owner each day?
Shibuya
Ironically he had actually arrived in Tokyo at Ueno Station in January 1924.
Q 19What does the 'Hachi' in Hachikō's name mean?
Eight
One theory is that the professor skipped 'seven' because Tokyoites pronounced it badly.
Q 20How did Professor Ueno die in May 1925?
A brain haemorrhage at work
He had been with the dog only about 15 months.
Q 24On what date each year is Hachikō honoured with a ceremony at his statue?
March 8
It marks the day he died in 1935.
Q 25A 2011 re-examination found Hachikō died of heartworm and what else?
Cancer
Four skewers were in his stomach but caused no damage, ending a decades-long debate.
Q 26Where is Hachikō's mounted pelt displayed?
National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo
His preserved organs are at the University of Tokyo's agriculture museum.
Q 27Which 1987 Japanese film about the loyal dog was the country's top-grossing film that year?
Hachikō Monogatari
It was the last big hit for the studio Shochiku Kinema Kenkyū-jo.
Q 28Who starred in the 2009 American film Hachi: A Dog's Tale?
Richard Gere
Lasse Hallström directed it in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Q 29In which Rhode Island city was Hachi: A Dog's Tale filmed?
Woonsocket
The city later unveiled a replica of the Shibuya statue bought on eBay.
Q 30How many Akitas played Hachi in the 2009 film?
Three
Leyla, Chico and Forrest shared the role; trainer Mark Harden adopted Chico afterwards.